Friday, November 27, 2009

I was away in Philadelphia for a few days last week for the 2009 NCTE Annual Convention. The reason I attended the convention--for the first time ever--is because I wanted to be there to celebrate with lots of other poets at the Poetry Party for Lee Bennett Hopkins, the 2009 recipient of the NCTE EXcellence in Poetry for Children

L to R: Janet Wong, Pat Lewis, Kris George, Moi, Rebecca Dotlich

Award.

Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong compiled a special book of poems as a tribute to Lee. I was thrilled to be one of the poets as to contribute to Dear One. Click here to read Eating Poetry, the poem I wrote in honor of Lee.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have a few extra copies of Dear One, the special "festschrift" book of poetry that they compiled in honor of Lee Bennett Hopkins, the 2009 recipient of the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award. They have proposed a mini-competition for giving away the last dozen copies. Here’s the challenge: You have to list the name of a past NCTE Poetry Award winner whose work you are thankful for (and provide the titles of a couple of favorite books or poems written by that poet) in the comments section of this post at Sylvia's blog Poetry for Children: Be thankful for our NCTE poets. (No limit to your entries, but you can win only once.)

I wrote the following poem, Eating Poetry, for the tribute book. The words in italics are titles and a subtitle from poetry books Lee has published.

Eating Poetryby Elaine Drabik Magliaro

Here we aresitting side by side,eating through a dayfull of poems,chewing on wonderful words,delicious wordsfull of surprises—words that flit, flutter, flyfrom our tongues,words that taste ofApril, bubbles, chocolate,words with the scent of sky magic.

Here we aresitting side by sidesavoring similes,munching on metaphors,rhymes dribbling down our chins,licking rhythm from our lips.

Here we aresitting side by sidein the city I loveeating poetrya l l d a y l o n g…Yummy!

Dear One: A Tribute to Lee Bennett Hopkins features original poems and anecdotes written by 61 poets, many who are friends and collaborators of Lee. Contributors included are listed below (appearing in reverse alphabetical order—as they do in the book):

Monday, November 23, 2009

I haven't had an opportunity yet to write up a post about the Poetry Party that was held in honor of Lee Bennett Hopkins last Friday at the 2009 NCTE Annual Convention in Philadelphia. It was a BLAST!!!

I'm sending along a million thanks to Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong--two people instrumental in organizing the party and getting funding for and compiling a book of poems and anecdotes as a special tribute to a man who has done more than anyone else to bring poetry into the lives of children.

Anyone interested in reading about the party and the tribute book, Dear One, should check out Sylvia Vardell's overview of this special occasion at her blog Poetry for Children: Hurray forHopkins.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I’m leaving for Philadelphia tomorrow for the 2009 Annual NCTE Convention. I won’t be posting on Poetry Friday—so here is some Thanksgiving poetry for you on Wednesday.

Giving ThanksAuthor Unknown

Giving ThanksFor the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home -Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,For the good that our artists and poets have taught,For the friendship that hope and affection have brought -Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,For our country extending from sea unto sea;The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" -Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

From Thanksgivingby Ivy O. Eastwick

Thank youfor all my hands can hold-apples red,and melons gold,yellow cornboth ripe and sweet,peas and beansso good to eat!

This historical fiction picture book is excellent for reading aloud in the elementary grades. Bruchac narrates the story in the voice of Squanto (Tisquantum), a Patuxet Indian. The book opens with Squanto telling about his capture by Captain Thomas Hunt who took him and other Patuxets to Spain to be sold as slaves in 1614, how Spanish friars set Squanto free and helped him to get to England, and Squanto’s return to America in 1619 when he found that his people had been devastated by a disease. In the rest of the book, we learn about Squanto’s building a friendship with the Pokanokets and Nemaskets; Samoset, a Pemaquid Indian; the arrival of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower; and the relationship between Squanto and the English that helped the settlers at Plimoth make it through their first year in the New World. The book includes an author’s note and a glossary.

This is a tale about a young girl named Milly whose family has immigrated to the United States from Poland. Milly’s father works at Macy’s Department Store. He—along with other immigrants who work there—miss their families and the holiday celebrations they had back in their homelands. Milly listen to them talking and gets a grand idea.

Meanwhile, Mr. Macy is concerned because his salesclerks are frowning instead of acting festive before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. He thinks the salesclerks are depressing the customers. He’s trying to figure out a solution to this problem. That’s when Milly approaches Mr. Macy and explains her idea. She tells him how she thinks “Macy’s could bring a little bit of everyone’s home to America.” Mr. Macy is receptive to Milly’s suggestion that the store sponsor a celebration that will remind the homesick employees of their holidays back home. The following day the store posts a sign advertising its Christmas parade. Word spreads quickly.

On Thanksgiving Day, Milly, her father, and all the other Macy’s workers dress up in costumes and march in the holiday parade. They all enjoy singing and strolling down the street—just as they had done in the old country.

This is a highly fictionalized account of the origin of the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade--but it's an entertaining story. Shana Corey includes an Author’s Note with background information on the parade—including the fact that it missed only three holidays. It was canceled from 1942-1944 because of World War II.

Thanksgiving Day I like to seeOur cook perform her witchery.She turns a pumpkin into pieAs easily as you or ICan wave a hand or wink an eye.She takes leftover bread and muffinAnd changes them to turkey stuffin’.

Monday, November 16, 2009

NOVEMBER GRACE LIN ART AUCTION BEGINS TODAY!Bid on eBay and support the FCB

This month "Small Graces: A Painting a Month to Benefit the FCB" features another fabulous painting by the talented and generous author/illustrator Grace Lin. This is the 11th painting to be auctioned on eBay as a benefit for our programs in under-served schools.

Here's how it works: Every month a small (5x5 inch), unpublished, original painting will be auctioned on eBay with 100% of the proceeds to support the FCB's author/illustrator visits and residencies in urban schools. Each painting will illustrate a bit of wisdom, a proverb, a "small Grace."

This month's painting (above), painted in gouache on watercolor paper, is on auction beginning today, Monday, November 16 through Friday, November 20. To bid on this painting, click here for the eBay link. For those who find original art from children's books beyond their budget, this is a great way to buy affordable art! Please spread the word and bid!

Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of more than a dozen picture books, including The Ugly Vegetables and Dim Sum for Everyone! Grace's critically acclaimed children's novels include The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat. Read more about Grace and her work here.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

This is our charge: To recommend on a regular basis every two years a living American poet to the NCTE Executive Committee for the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in recognition of his or her aggregate work; to sustain the collection of poetry books of award winners, past and future, in the University of Minnesota, Kerlan Collection; to recognize and foster excellence in children's poetry by encouraging its publi­cation; and to explore ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

In November has a spare, lyrical text. It is not a storybook. It’s like a book-length prose poem that speaks to the essence of a month when the colorful beauty and fruitful bounty of the fall season is in the past. In the book, Rylant talks about snow blanketing the ground, trees that have lost their leaves, birds moving away for winter, animals sleeping more, food having an “orange smell” and tasting better, and people coming together to share a special holiday with each other. Rylant repeats the phrase “In November” several times in her text. This use of repetition throughout the book is one of the author’s writing techniques—along with the rhythm and flow of her evocative language—that helps her text read like poetry.

Here are some excerpts from the book to give you the “autumnal” flavor of In November:

In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.

In November, animals sleep more. The air is chilly and they shiver.Cats pile up in the corners of barns.Mice pile up under logs. Bees pile up in deep, earthy holes.And dogs lie before the fire.

The book closes with my favorite passage:In November, at winter’s gate, the stars are brittle. The sun is a sometime friend. And the world has tucked her children in, with a kiss on their heads, till spring.

Kastern’s full-color illustrations done in oil paints are as evocative of the month as are Rylant’s words. The uncluttered illustrations with changing perspectives and close-ups of leaves and birds and other animals draw a reader into the quiet text…into a “chilling” time of year when people and many animals draw into closer confines to keep themselves warm and to shelter themselves from the cold and long hours of darkness.

What Do You Do with a Book Like This?

Write a Collaborative Class Prose Poem

In November would be a great book to read aloud in the early elementary grades at this time of year—a book that could serve as a springboard for a creative writing exercise. So often children are asked to write about the signs of fall…but usually during an earlier part of the season when pumpkins and apples are growing plump and round in garden patches and orchards and trees are wearing leafy crowns of bright autumnal colors—or, in November, they’re asked to write about all the things they are thankful for as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.

Why not lead students in writing a collaborative “In November” prose poem modeled after Rylant’s book? I would even suggest taking kids for a walk outside, on a hike in the woods, or on a field trip to an orchard or farm after the first reading of the book. Taking children outdoors to get in touch with the sights, sounds, and smells of November will help to get them revved up for writing.

I would read In November aloud a second time and then discuss with students the things that came to Rylant’s mind when she wrote about November. Next, I’d read the book aloud a third time slowly from beginning to end and ask children to listen carefully to the detailed/poetic language and figures of speech Rylant used in her text. Following that, the teacher could point out passages or a phrase or two from the book herself as examples.

For example:

Trees “spreading their arms like dancers”

About birds: “The air is full of good-byes and well-wishes.”

About the smell and taste of food in November: “It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog.”

At Thanksgiving, people “talk by crackling woodstoves, sipping mellow cider.”

At this point in the process, the teacher and her students should be ready to start work on the first draft of their collaborative class prose poem. An easel, a pad of large chart paper, and a marker are all the supplies a teacher will need.

Writing the Class Poem: Ask children to think about the sights, sounds, and smells that come to mind when they think of the month of November. As children share, write down their responses on the chart paper—leaving large spaces between the responses. When the class has finished its rough draft, leave it up for a day or two to give children time to reread it, to suggest additions to the poem, and to think of more specific/detailed language and figures of speech that could be used when revising the class poem. The teacher can write down the children’s suggestions and ideas on another sheet of chart paper.

When the class is ready to write the second draft of their prose poem, the teacher can cut the different lines of the first draft into strips. This will make it easier for students to organize their poem. It will also make it easier for them to insert the words “In November” in several places in the text of their poem. Once the teacher and students have read through their prose poem together and determined that is ready for its final draft, the teacher should rewrite it on a new sheet of chart paper.

Suggestion for making illustrated In November Books: The teacher could type the entire prose poem on the computer—putting just one or two sentences on each page. The teacher could run off a copy of the poem for each student to illustrate. Students could design their own book covers. Finally, each student’s book could be stapled or bound together. Their In November books would be wonderful gifts for them to take home and to share with their families at Thanksgiving time.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Earlier this week, Tricia of The Miss Rumphius Effect challenged her blog readers with her Monday Poetry Stretch - What Isn't There. She wrote in her post: “Since my poems often try to capture what I see and hear, smell and touch, I thought it might be interesting to write a poem about something that describes it by virtue of what isn't there.”

I started working on a poem for the stretch when it dawned on me that I had written an animal mask poem about earthworms over a year ago that would fit the bill of a poem about “what isn’t there.” Then I was inspired to write two more poems. I’m referring to all of these as my “NO” poems. I think you'll understand why.

Jama Rattigan is celebrating the joys of peanut butter today in honor of National Peanut Butter Lovers Month. Who else would know there was a month set aside for such a thing??? Get on over to Alphabet Soup and read The Great Peanut Butter Smackdown.

At A Year of Reading, Mary Lee has Sonnet by James Weldon Johnson for those experiencing difficult times. Her post is titled Beyond Surrounding Clouds.

Julie Larios admits to being “moon drunk” lately. She has some photos taken by a friend and an original poem, December 21. Why don’t you steal away to The Drift Record to see what she’s got for us today.

At the Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia has a poem by Ted Kooser titled Gabardine that reminds her of her father. P. S. Don’t forget to wish Tricia a Happy Third Blog Birthday here.

Sara Lewis Holmes has selected a poem by Rick Barot titled Reading Plato to share with us today at Read Write Believe. She says she chose the poem because—among other things—it describes the writing process.

LITERARY LUNCH POETRY BUNCH

Andy says The Write Sisters are checking in with a 1919 look at the 2009 flu pandemic. She’s offering The Flu by J. P. McEvoy for Poetry Friday.

Jone of Check It Out has a poem for us celebrating rain by Zaro Well titled From My Window.

At All About the Books, Janet Squires talks about Dav Pilkey's humorous Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving.

Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose, has some poetic Inspiration for us this Poetry Friday.

Maya Ganesan and Miss Erin have a collaborative poem to share with us called Carving.

Lisa said that she’s having a great weekend in New York City at a poetry workshop at Poets House, a beautiful library on the Hudson River filled with poetry! She’s posted a sweet poem she found there, Human Heart by Gregory Orr.

The Tree That Time BuiltA Celebration of Nature, Science, and ImaginationSelected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda WinstonPublished by Jabberwocky/Sourcebooks, 2009

From The Evolution Revolution (Publishers Weekly): Mary Ann Hoberman, current children’s poet laureate, has witnessed firsthand the struggle to teach evolution in the classroom, or in some cases, to even allude to it. One of the poems that she often recites in classrooms contains a line about monkeys being almost like people. Hoberman stated that when she would often recite the poem, she began to notice “frosty looks” on the faces of teachers and parents. “I was getting fed up with what was going on in this country,” she says. And it was this frustration that led her to begin compiling, along with Linda Winston, an anthology of poems dealing with nature and the idea of evolution. The anthology, The Tree That Time Built, will be published in October.

Click here to read the rest of the article at PEN American Center (Posted may 7, 2009)

(I should note that there isn’t a line about monkeys being like people in the poem. There are lines, however about apes—chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans—being like us.)

Here’s the poem Mary Ann was speaking about:

Anthropoids

The next time you go to the zooThe zooSlow down for a minute or twoOr twoAnd consider the apesAll their sizes and shapesFor they all are related to youTo you.

Yes, they all are related to youTo you.And they all are related to meTo meTo our fathers and mothersOur sisters and brothersAnd all of the people we seeWe see.

The chimpanzees, gorillas, and allAnd allThe orangutans climbing the wallThe wallThese remarkable creaturesShare most of our featuresAnd the difference between us is smallQuite small.

So the next time you go to the zoothe zooSlow down for a minute or twoOr twoAnd consider the apesAll their sizes and shapesFor they all are relates to youTo you.

Anthropoids is just one of the more than one hundred poems included in this fine anthology that connects poetry and science. The book truly is a celebration of our world, of nature and imagination—and of the “tree of life.” It exemplifies how poets who carefully observe the planet, its animals and plants, can bring their creative resources to bear in expressing their thoughts and emotions about such things in ways that help us to appreciate the wonder of it all.

From the book’s main introduction:

Have you ever wondered why there are so many kinds of living things in the world and where they come from? Or how and why some of them have disappeared? Or how people fit in with all the other forms of life? Scientists and poets alike ask these questions.

Scientists explore these questions through systematic methods and procedures, transforming their observations into ever-unfolding scientific knowledge. Poets, too, through observation and imagination, discover new truths about our world. But in their case they transform their insights into works of art.

The Tree That Time Built is truly a substantial anthology—and not just because it contains so many poems. It is the quality of its poetry selections, the thoughtfulness with which it was compiled and organized, the information imparted in the introductions to each section, and the notes included with some poems that help expound on the subjects addressed in them or touch on some poetic technique used by the writers, that make it such an exceptional book.

In addition, the anthology includes an extensive glossary that explains poetic as well as scientific terms and an About the Poets section with information about the writers whose poems are included in the book. But that’s not all! You’ll also find Suggestions for Further Reading and Research in the back matter and an audio CD with 44 poems read by 20 poets and artists.

Poetry books don’t get any better than The Tree That Time Built!!! It is truly a magnum opus. I know that it was a labor of love for both Mary Ann and Linda. The book was nine years in the making. It was a literary and science project to which these two intelligent women were truly dedicated. They were committed to seeing this project published. And I am grateful for their determination and perseverance—for they have given us a book that is sure to become a classic.The Tree That Time Built is a book for people of all ages. It contains poems to delight and provoke thought in children and adults alike.

NPR Interview with Mary Ann Hoberman & Linda WinstonListen to Mary Ann and Linda being interviewed on the Here and Now radio program on WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, on October 28, 2009. The interview is interspersed with poems that are included on the CD that comes with their poetry anthology The Tree That Time Built. Click here to listen to Mary Ann and Linda’s interview on Here and Now.

Just for Fun: Here is my unfinished tongue-in-cheek response to Mary Ann’s poem Anthropoids. I'm still working on the second stanza!

The apes aren’t related to meTo me.They aren’t a part ofMy family tree.I am not descended from low level creaturesThat didn’t have delicate humanoid features.There is no resemblance. Oh can’t you see?The apes aren’t related to me.

Missing second stanza

The next time I go to the zooThe zooI’ll stop for a minute or twoOr twoI’ll look at the apesAll their sizes and shapesAnd shout: “Darwin was wrong about me and you.”I’ll shout: “Charlie was wrong!” And that’s true!

About Me

I worked as an elementary school teacher for more than three decades and as a school librarian for three years. I also taught a children's literature course at Boston University from 2002-2008. I served on the advisory board of the Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival from 2006-2008 and as a member of the NCTE Poetry Committee from 2009-2012. I am now retired and write poetry for children. "Things to Do," my first children's book, will be published by Chronicle Books in February of 2017.